Samsung Moment (Sprint)
Manufacturer: Samsung Part number: SPHM900ZKA
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- With its full keyboard and bright display, the Samsung Moment successfully rounds out Sprint's Android offerings.
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CNET editors' review
Samsung Moment (Sprint) price range: $200.00
- Reviewed by: Kent German
- Reviewed on: 10/22/2009
- Released on: 10/07/2009
The good: The Samsung Moment has a bright display with a spacious keyboard. Productivity features are plentiful and call quality is clear.
The bad: The Samsung Moment's touch interface and controls were a little sluggish. The camera lacks editing features, call volume could be louder, and speakerphone quality was just average.
The bottom line: With its full keyboard and bright display, the Samsung Moment successfully rounds out Sprint's Android offerings.
In case you haven't noticed, the Google Android dam has broken. For almost a year, HTC was the only manufacturer to offer handsets with the operating system, but in the past month, Motorola and Samsung almost fell over each other to offer Android smartphones of their own. Moto gave us the satisfying Cliq and Samsung countered with the Moment. Though we're not sure which "Moment" Samsung is referring to (the company's product names baffle us regularly), it's clear that Sammy is taking its Android endeavor seriously. The Moment offers everything you'd expect from an Android phone while adding Sprint-specific media services. Other features are plentiful, and the sturdy design and comfortable physical keyboard offer a nice contrast to Sprint's other Android phone, the HTC Hero. The Android OS still has its quirks, camera-editing options are nonexistent, and we had a few performance complaints, but at $179 with service, the Moment, aka the M900, is cheaper than T-Mobile's Android options.
Design
You wouldn't be off base if you initially confused the Moment with Samsung's other touch-screen phones. Indeed, with its rounded ends and prominent display it looks a lot like the Samsung Rogue. Yet, a closer look will show that the Moment is larger than its siblings and its color scheme and soft touch material on its battery cover put it more in line with the Hero. The result is a rather unremarkable design, particularly when compared with its Android counterparts, but the smooth lines give the Moment a minimalist appeal.
The Moment is more than just large (4.6 inches by 2.34 inches by 0.63 inch), it's also quite heavy (5.67 ounces) for any kind of cell phone. The extra bulk is noticeable and the Moment can make for a tight fit in some pockets, but the trade-off is a solid device with a sturdy build. The slider mechanism is sufficiently stiff and the handset has a firm feel in the hand. We noticed, however, that when the slider is open the Moment feels a bit top-heavy. When typing, be sure to steady the back of the slider with your fingers.
Display and interface
At 3.2 inches, the Moment's vibrant AMOLED display is smaller than the iPhone's, but still large enough to allow for comfortable navigation. Though the resolution (480x320 pixels) is lower than on the Rogue, the rich color support (16 million hues) means that colors and graphics pop right off the screen. You can change the brightness, the wallpaper, and the backlight time, and you can adjust the accelerometer settings so that the display doesn't change automatically when you rotate the phone. A proximity sensor will switch the screen off when you're on a call.
The Moment ships with Android OS 1.5 so its three home screens and phone dialer interface will be familiar to Android users. The dialer features round buttons and offers quick access to a list of favorite contacts, though it lacks the additional shortcuts we liked on the Cliq. The main menu is also unchanged from other supported handsets; to access it, tap the small pull tab at the bottom of the display. Naturally, you can add or delete shortcut widgets and move them around the home screens. But in a change from other Android phones, the display offers vibrating feedback for the virtual keyboard and keypad (you can turn this feature off).
Though the capacitive display is mostly responsive, we noticed that there was a bit of lag time when opening the main menu and selecting some icons. The delay won't be noticeable to Android virgins, but veteran users of the OS should see a change, albeit very small, from other Android handsets. It also took a firm swipe to move between the home screens and through long lists. Perhaps a screen sensitivity adjustment would help, but the Moment doesn't offer one.
Keyboard and controls
We also had issues with the three touch controls below the display. The Home, Menu, and back buttons have a spacious arrangement, but our touch didn't always register during our initial hours of use. Similar to the finger swiping, you'll need to give an accurate, firm press. As with other Android phones, the Menu control opens the relevant commands for the feature that you're using.
Fortunately, the physical controls just below the display are better. You'll find large Talk and End/power keys and a square OK button that doubles as an optical mouse. The latter is a unique Samsung creation that acts like a touch pad. By swiping your finger cross the control, you can move the cursor or swipe between home screens. Though the optical mouse is tiny, it works well. In fact, it's so sensitive that you need to use it carefully. On the downside, we'd prefer to have a dedicated search control.
Other exterior features include a volume rocker on the left spine and a camera shutter and a voice dialing button on the right spine. A Micro-USB port on the left spine accommodates the charger and a USB cable. We thank Samsung for giving us a standard charger port and the 3.5mm headset jack on the Moment's top end. The camera lens, flash, and mirror sit on the rear side near a speaker. You will need to remove the battery cover to access the microSD card slot.
The Moment's keyboard is spacious and comfortable. The keys aren't quite as tactile as on the Cliq, but we could text quickly without making mistakes. Also, we like that with four rows of keys, numbers have dedicated buttons. Punctuation does share space with other characters, but that's a common feature on keyboard phones. The space bar is located in the center of the bottom row and we appreciate the set of four arrow keys. Other controls include back, return, and function keys, and a function button for accessing menus and typing special symbols and emoticons. The display will rotate automatically when you open the keyboard, but using the standard Android virtual keyboard you can type with the phone closed.
Contacts
Each contact in the Moment's phone book holds eight phone numbers, four e-mail addresses, an instant-messaging handle, a birthday and an anniversary, four postal addresses, company or organization names, notes, and up to eight chat addresses for services like Windows Live, Yahoo, and Google Talk. For caller ID, you can pair contacts with a photos and one of 16 polyphonic ringtones. You even can choose to send all calls from a contact directly to voice mail.
In a change from other Android handsets, the Moment will ask you to sync new contacts to one of your synced e-mail accounts. Though we understand the need for backing up contacts, we'd also prefer an option for bypassing that step. On the other hand, you can quickly import existing contacts from your synced Gmail account.
E-mail and calendar
The Moment offers a full range of e-mail options. Besides Gmail--as with other Android phones, the Moment requires a Gmail account--you can sync with major POP3 services like Yahoo and Hotmail and use the handsets' Microsoft ActiveSync feature to get push e-mail from Outlook. The Moment uses Moxier Mail for those work accounts, but the setup process is intuitive. And in a welcome change over T-Mobile's first two Android handsets, you also can sync your Outlook calendar, tasks, and contacts.
We synced an Outlook and a Yahoo account; in either case it took just a few minutes to get set up. Outlook messages arrived almost instantaneously on the Moment and they were gone from our PC soon after we deleted them on the phone. In-box folders are arranged as they appear on your computer, and you can easily search your messages or perform a bulk move or delete. When opening subfolders you may need to manually sync, but that's a minor point. Moxier Mail will display HTML messages, and you can view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.
Outlook appointments will show up on the Moment's calendar, which offers day, week, and month views and the ability to create new events and send them to the attendees. Outlook contacts will sync with your phone book, but tasks will appear in a special "Work Tasks" app.
Other features
Essentials include text and multimedia messaging, a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, a calculator, an alarm clock, and a nifty "Device self Service" that allows you to, among other things, quickly activate your phone. Some basic apps like a world clock and a notepad remain absent, and we're a little perplexed by the new File Viewer feature. Though we welcome the capability to view files that are stored on the phone--a feature not available on previous Android phones--you can't do anything other than delete the files once you find them. To be really useful, we should be able to move files as well.
Beyond the basics, you'll have 802.11b Wi-Fi, USB mass storage, Google Talk, instant messaging, Sprint visual voice mail, stereo Bluetooth, PC syncing, and speaker-independent voice dialing. The Moment also comes integrated with apps from Facebook, The Weather Channel, CNN, ESPN, and a demo version of Bejewled. Of course, Google voice search is also onboard and you can populate the home screen with a handy search widget.
GPS
In addition to the obvious Google Maps feature, the Moment also offers Sprint Navigation for real-time directions, a 3D map, and a points-of-interest database. Google Maps offers directions (though not in real-time turn-by-turn directions), standard map view, satellite view, and street view as well as access to Google Latitude.
Android Market
As with other Android phones, the Android Market lets you download free and paid apps and games. The quantity and quality of apps continue to grow every day, and Google will keep enhancing the Android Market interface as it updates the operating system. For more details on the Android Market, check out our G1 review. For updates and reviews of available Android apps, visit our Android Atlas blog.
Though we've said it many times before, we again have to mention that Android restricts app storage to the handset's integrated memory. On the Moment that's 256MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. Granted, it won't affect most users, but it remains one of the OS' most peculiar characteristics and it's one that we hope Google changes soon. The handset's memory card slot is only for saving for photos, music, and other attachment files (you'll get a 2GB card in the box, but the slot accommodates cards up to 32GB).
Music and video
The Moment's music player is similar to its Android predecessors. Beyond the simple, intuitive interface, you'll find support for multiple files types, album art, playlists, shuffle, repeat, and an airplane mode for in-flight media use. To get tunes you can buy songs through the Amazon MP3 Store, which has DRM-free tracks. A single song costs about 89 cnets, and an album can cost anywhere from $5 to $9. Of course, you also can transfer music to your Moment using Bluetooth, the microSD card, or the included USB cable. We used the last method to successfully load a few tunes.
Video content is available through the standard YouTube app or clips that you load on the phone. As we said with the Cliq, we'd love to have an iTunes-like option for movie purchases and rentals. Both the YouTube app and the video gallery feature are easy to use.
Though there's little about the Moment that screams "Samsung," you'll know from the other media options that it is a Sprint device. The carrier added apps for Sprint TV (streaming and on-demand video), Sprint Movies, Sprint Radio, Nascar Sprint Cup, and NFL Mobile Live. Curiously, the Moment does not offer access to the Sprint Music Store.
Camera
We're not happy with the dearth of editing options on the moment's 3.2-megapixel camera. Forget color effects, a self-timer, a zoom, or even image size--you only can adjust the video quality and activate the camera flash. Sure, we're thankful for the flash and the self-portrait mirror, but we just can't abide a phone that doesn't let you play with the camera options. You can blame the iPhone for that trend.
On the upside, the Moment's photo quality was pretty good. Colors were relatively bright and the flash performs adequately, though our images were a bit grainy. Like on other Android phones, the shutter delay remains long. Videos captured with the Moment were about what you'd expect: movements in the video were blurry and colors were a bit off. When finished editing your content, you can save it to the phone, forward it to friends via e-mail or MMS, and transfer it to a PC via a memory card or a USB cable. The Photo & Video places app offers direct uploading access to MySpace, YouTube, Photobucket, and Facebook. The Gallery app offers an attractive and customizable option for viewing a slideshow of your photos.
Browser
When first opening the HTML browser, Sprint forces you onto its own Web portal. Although it offers access to news headlines, weather reports, and social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, we suspect that you'll want to move on immediately. Fortunately, you can do just that via the Menu control below the display, but here again we'd prefer a dedicated Search control without opening the keyboard.
The Moment's Web-browsing experience was comparable to other Android phones. Scrolling around Web pages was fluid outside of the occasional screen lag. The onscreen zoom controls were effective and we could select links easily, but keep in mind that the accelerometer only works when you rotate the Moment to the left. The handset supports copy and paste and tabs for your bookmarks, frequent sites, and history, but not integrated Flash Lite.
Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) Samsung Moment in San Francisco using Sprint service. Call quality generally was quite good, with natural-sounding voices and a strong, clear signal. The volume level could be louder, however, as we had trouble hearing when we were talking on a busy street or in a place with a lot of background noise. What's more, when we had the volume turned all the way up, we encountered the tiniest bit of voice distortion.
On their end, callers said we sounded good. A few didn't know we were using a cell phone, which is rarely the case when going wireless. Some callers had trouble hearing us when we were in those noisy places, which made us think that the Moment has a sensitive sweet spot. If we spoke directly into the handset, there was rarely a problem. Automated calling systems could hear us most of the time, but we had to repeat ourselves on occasion.
Speakerphone calls were average. We had to speak close to the phone and the sound on our end was muffled. We could carry on conversations, but we found ourselves switching to standard calls more often than not. On the other hand, we liked the speakerphone and mute touch controls that sit directly on the display when you're on a call. What's more, the phone dialer opens with a single touch.
Sprint's 3G EV-DO network offers a fast data connection with admirable reach. We could get a signal in most buildings and even when underground. Also, graphics-heavy Web pages, images, and YouTube videos loaded in seconds. Remember that the browser will default to mobile sites, so you might have to click around to find the full version.
The Moment offers an 800Mhz processor, which is improved over previous Android models. Once the touch screen registered our choices, applications opened quickly, but there was still a little bit of the Android sluggishness to which we've become accustomed. By and large, the Moment performed well and we didn't have any system crashes.
Not surprisingly, YouTube video quality was just blurry. If there was any difference between other Android phones, we didn't see it. In contrast, videos stored on the phone were fine. Music quality was decent, as well. The external speaker doesn't have the loudest output and the sound warbles just a bit. Try a headset for the best experience.
The Google Maps feature was moderately more accurate than on the Hero or T-Mobile's Android models. It still missed our location by a block most of the time, but it never lost us completely. The Samsung Moment is quite a decent navigator. During our testing period, the smartphone's GPS consistently found our location in a minute or less and did a good job of tracking our movements as we drove around San Francisco. We also used Sprint Navigation to plot a route from the city's Marina District to Santa Clara, Calif. The app was very quick to come up with directions and even alerted us to a traffic incident at the beginning of our trip; unfortunately, there were no alternative routes so we had to sit through the congestion. Voice directions were clear but a little on the soft side, and route recalculations were quick but didn't always offer the most efficient routes.
Senior Editor Bonnie Cha contributed to this section.
The Moment has a rated battery life of 5.5 hours talk time. Our talk time tests didn't quite reach that with a result of 4 hours and 36 minutes. According to the FCC, the Moment has a digital SAR of 0.67 watt per kilogram.
User reviews
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Fabulous device
by captainculpeper on November 3, 2009
Pros: Fast beautiful screen nice keyboard loud speaker phone excellent call quality camera has a flash solid build lots of apps to customize great battery life if using task manager
Cons: operating system 1.5
Summary: Just a fabulous device after having the hero for a few weeks I really don't regret my switch. Anyone experiencing poor battery life just download task manager from android ...
Summary: Just a fabulous device after having the hero for a few weeks I really don't regret my switch. Anyone experiencing poor battery life just download task manager from android market and put a stop to all the running programs. Works like a charm. I have been using two days and finally needs a charge. I can't put it down!
The battery life on this device gets to 15% and stays there for quite a long time. Most people understandably will charge it before that and think the phone battery is toast. When it really has about an hour left in it.
Updated on Nov 10, 2009
Updated on Nov 17, 2009You can also improve the video feed exponentially by going into the menu when you are watching video and switching to HIGH DEF option. Crystal clear video is the result!!!!
Updated on Mar 14, 2010The task manager that I use is by Wing Tseng
Updated on Mar 14, 2010Don't forget to get the CL 14 UPDATE from SPRINT!!!! Improves the phone dramatically!!!!
Updated on Apr 22, 2010I liked this phone better than the Hero for a few reasons. First of all this has a 800 mhz processor and the hero has a slower 528 mhz processor. Which is with out a doubt noticeable once you start to use them. This phone also has a flash for the camera and the Hero does not! So Hero owners, good luck with them night shots. The Moment also has a user friendly(that I use very often)slide out keyboard as well as a virtual keyboard and the Hero only has a virtual one. Finally the Moment has a AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode)screen. Which is crisp and vivid. The contrast of an AMOLED is amazing. It offers crystal clear images and readability in any environment and perceive luminance that is 1.5 times higher than that of an lcd display. To conclude, with the Android 2.1 update coming out this phone will be even better with voice recognition typing, among other upgrades and will have the speed and hardware to accommodate to make it shine!23 out of 26 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I love it!!!
by flyjbaker on November 19, 2009
Pros: SPEED, SPEED, SPEED!!! Android apps, nice screen
Cons: Battery METERING issues. Android 1.5 with 2.0 on the way hopefully.
Summary: Alright, I have to get this out of the way first. The whole battery issue thing. The battery in this phones borders on STELLAR!!!! It would get at least 4 ...
Summary: Alright, I have to get this out of the way first. The whole battery issue thing. The battery in this phones borders on STELLAR!!!! It would get at least 4 out of 5 stars. I know there are many people out there complaining about it. There is NOTHING wrong with the battery. There IS, however. something wrong with the battery "meter" on the phone. I would imagine it is a software issue. What happens is that the battery meter will show a relatively rapid decrease/discharge in the battery. You will be down around 15% by the late afternon. But you can operate the phone below 15% for hours on end. I challenge anybody with this phone to try to run it until it turns off/dies. You will be awake all night trying....I guarantee you. Is this an issue???... yes it is. It would be nice to have an accurate reading of actual battery life remaining. Another annoyance associated with this is that once the battery does go below 15%, the screen goes into a power saving made and automatically dims and you cannot brighten it until you recharge. So the people that freak out when it says you have 15% remaining....don't. You still have literally hours of use....potentially well into the next day if used lightly. If you would like to read a 10 page thread on this issue, visit this website(I have no interest)... http://androidforums.com/samsung-moment/13783-possible-battery-quirk.html
That link will give the potential buyer of this phone something to go on instead of just "the battery sucks".
Another issue is Pandora does not run smoothly on this phone. May have something to do with the buffer setting or the sampling speed but this is also a known issue. I am willing to bet this will get worked out because this is probably the second biggest issue next to the battery meter. People love their pandora.
Good stuff: Best thing about this phone is the speed. I had the Hero for 3 weeks and that phone absolutely drove me crazy. You would have to wait about a second for each touch to register. The Hero fans will say, "Gosh, you sure are impatient if you can't spare a second!". It is a second PER TOUCH. SO if you have to go thru menus that require 10 selections, you are there for at least 10 seconds. This phone is just POP POP POP POP....you can probably navogate that same menu in half the time and maybe even a third of the time on the Moment. The "phone app" on that phone(Hero) was so slow and laggy. For people that are looking for a good "telephoning eperience" this phone is the best cellphone I have ever used. Speaker volume(both interior and exterior) is excellent. Call quality is excellent. And I have yet to drop a call which is unheard of. I am sure it will happen, but I am still amazed. It is an excellent PHONE!!!
It is an above average internet device. The native browser is decent and faster than any other native browser I have ever seen. Opera Mini is not yet supported on this phone. So that is a bit of a disappointment.
I do not use my phone as a business tool so take all of that into consideration when you weigh my opinion so I really don't care much about syncing issues that others have had. Google is definitely trying to bring you into their "loop". They are a forced to be reckoned with, that is for sure.
I have found the virtual keyboard to be excellent as well. I don't really use the hard keyboard much which surprises me. The virtual keyboard looks very plain and the size and look of the keys do not inspire confidence at all. But when you go to typing, you hit all the correct keys somehow. Anyway, I am surprised at how well it works.
In summary, if you are looking for a phone on the Sprint network and are considering this one, I wouldn't let the battery meter issue turn you away. It is somewhat of an annoyance, but the phone WILL last you at least a whole day of regular use. There is a lot of noise out there about this and I don't think Samsung can turn a deaf ear to it. I would be willing to bet it will be fixed before xmas...but that is just a WAG. This is the best offering Sprint has....and it ain't too shabby!!!!13 out of 15 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Underrated phone
by acpmoment on November 10, 2009
Pros: -multi-faceted phone
-feels solid and comfortable
-touchscreen is responsive
-great apps, including some nice games
-slide out keyboard (really is a nice option)Cons: I have yet to find one
Summary: I switched to Sprint from ATT where I previously owned an iPhone, but Sprint's unbeatable prices and new droid phones peaked my curiosity. Well, after many trips to the ...
Summary: I switched to Sprint from ATT where I previously owned an iPhone, but Sprint's unbeatable prices and new droid phones peaked my curiosity. Well, after many trips to the Sprint store and tons of research on the Pre, Hero and Moment, I finally decided on the Moment and I couldn't be happier. The Hero is getting a lot of attention right now and I think it's simply due to the coolness of the phone, which if you have any sense you would "lol" at that. When you look at the Hero and the Moment together you can kind of see why people are leaning towards that device, but once you turn on the phones and start to navigate through the screens you will see that the functionality is very similar. Some of the differences I found was the Hero had the pinch and zoom similar to the iPhone; however, that feature may be available for the Moment in the 2.0 release, but let me tell you that feature is vastly overrated. I thought it was actually going to be a deal breaker, but after using the Moment for about 30 minutes I realized its zoom is just as efficient. Another thing was the 7 screens on the Hero, hahah at that, I mean seriously the 3 screens on the Moment are plenty, especially considering you can create folders, which store at least 20 apps, so that is another overrated feature on the Hero. If you're an iPhone user you are nodding your head right now because the fact you don't have folders is irritating (disclaimer: I had a 3g phone, so the 3gs may have folders).
11 out of 12 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This phone is FANTASTIC!
by muffinit on November 3, 2009
Pros: Gorgeous screen-lightning processor-slide out keyboard+lights-capacitive touch screen is VERY responsive-android-no lag-YES HERO NO LAG-battery is great if you run task manager-LOUD speaker and speaker phone-comes with nice ear buds-much more......
Cons: Not much to say here but this phone really got a bum rap on some of the reviews- TANK
Summary: I had the hero right before this phone for three weeks and i have to tell you besides the UI, this phone has that one beat in just about every ...
Summary: I had the hero right before this phone for three weeks and i have to tell you besides the UI, this phone has that one beat in just about every thing and especially performance. I really got tired of making mistakes on that keyboard and the lag irritated me. I actually like the virtual keyboard better on this than the hero. But the physical keyboard is a night and day difference.
This phone will get to 15 percent and stay there a LONG time. Most users will charge it before 15 percent and don't realize how much life is still in the phone. I was at 15 percent and had a 45 min phone call and it still wasn't spent. It must be a firmware issue that should be resolved with updates.
I also had the iphone 3gs and several others and to compare but this phone just won me over. Now the UI is very basic but I am the type that likes to build and design my own UI and not what someone else already stuck in there. When 2.0 comes out and this gets it, that will be something really look forward to. I can't believe some of the reviews i read from some of the review sights???? It almost made me not get this phone. I am glad that I had to see for myself with all the great specs this phone has I couldn't just not try it. But I am glad I did and I think you will too if you have some tech smarts in you.
Updated on Nov 10, 2009
Updated on Nov 24, 2009When you watch you tube videos go into the menu and select to switch the standard resolution to the HIGH QUALITY one and it will just POP out at you and really show how great this AMOLED screen looks along with the fast 800meg processor!11 out of 12 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Overall a great phone..but for me, not the RIGHT phone.
by takaman27 on November 16, 2009
Pros: great resolution and clarity, unlimited apps.....great camera, fast processor....screen goes blank when next to your face (LOVED THIS FEATURE)
Cons: awkward key placement on keyboard, phone is HEAVYYYYYY, very unbalanced feeling when texting or attempting to use with one hand, awkward app shutdown.......read full review
Summary: OK....here we go....as objective as I can be, up front and honest.....i gave it 4 stars because its a good phone, but i will list the things ...
Summary: OK....here we go....as objective as I can be, up front and honest.....i gave it 4 stars because its a good phone, but i will list the things that i PERSONALLY did not like and have motivated me to get a Pre....i have been a long time Palm person and went out to buy the Pre recently and walked out with the Moment. Im open minded and always willing to try something new..This is my first Android and right off the bat i gotta admit i didnt like the mandatory gmail account you have to get, and the CONSTANT syncing notifications that never stop popping up. I think it is GREAT that you can work with gmail if you WANT to, i just dont use gmail and dont want to have to switch everything up, but still a GREAT feature if that doesnt bother you.....but everytime you go to add something to the calendar be prepared for continual screens to pop up confirming your sync....that got old REAL fast, and it seems as though the preferences just dont provide enough choices for how to customize your experience...( i could care less at this point about customizing the LOOK, just want to have control over the EXPERIENCE).
Screen is great, IN THE DARK OR LOW LIGHT....i read a bunch of stuff saying this new screen the Moment has is amazing, which it is, but when they say its great outside, THATS BS...my crappy Palm Centro is waaay better in direct sunlight....i had real difficulty seeing anything outside or in the car....BIG DOWNER......the keys on the keyboard are awkward as well (although this can be overcome by simply getting used to it)...in order to get the dedicated number row, they had to get creative....not my preference but oh well......i like the security feature of drawing the little design, actually i LOVE that feature...HOWEVER....i dialed 911 emergency FOUR TIMES by accident, luckily i was aware and hung up before call went through, but this shouldnt be such an easy accident...the 911 button is right next to where u are doodling your design to unlock phone...not a well thought out situation.......i also didnt like the fact that you had to download an app just to effectively CLOSE your OTHER apps.....shutting down an app is a hassle without it, and if you leave them running your batt life is horrible....very weird how after i killed all my apps, and put the phone down for 3 hours, when i picked it back up and checked the app killer screen, A HALF A DOZEN APPS HAD STARTED UP AND WERE RUNNING ON THEIR OWN!!!!! that was a HUGE turn off........if you like to use 1 hand this is NOT the phone for you. VERY heavy making 2 hands a MUST...even when texting with 2 hands it felt very top heavy and was constantly feeling as if it was about to magically fall from my hands. ..
I did like the fact that there are truely limitless apps out there to get....the speakerphone and sound were LOUD...which i like....LOVED the feature that dims the screen when talking on the phone so ur face doesnt hang up on somebody or answer the call waiting.....after treos and the centro....this feature had me seeing heart shaped candy....lol.....great idea....the internet was AMAZING..SUPER fast, google maps was FAST AND ACCURATE....the navigation was great....some cool stuff...didnt like that there was no multi touch for increasing screen magnification.....
as far as video quality....i went to youtube with this phone and the palm pre...put them side by side....loaded the same video...(in the moment you have to manually select HIGH DEFINTION otherwise youtube default is blurry)...and watched the video.......the Moment was a smoother image, with the pixels very very subtly being visible on the pre....BUT...the screen size almost identical, the the Pre was brighter both in contrast and color.....not something you hear by reading reviews....even the guy in the sprint store came over to see what i was up to and he was shocked.....
overall, my issues are small, but they added up to me not liking the phone......oh, and everybody is hating on the phone's battery life...just be smart with how you use it people and be sure to get the 3rd party App killer11 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Beautiful screen, fast, great phone but...
by juanchovies on December 8, 2009
Pros: Beautiful screen, fast processor, Android platform (although 1.5), full lighted keyboard, decent camera with flash, handles multimedia very well, proximity sensor, Sprint features and plans are the best bang or your buck.
Cons: Battery life, battery monitor energy management is very poor (upgrade needed fast), no obvious hard reset button, reception is just average (my old Centro much better), Android 1.5, some USB connectivity issues, not enough memory for apps on device.
Summary: After two weeks of use compared it with Hero (tested one week). The dust accumulation on the Hero screen was a deal breaker for me. The screen in sharper than ...
Summary: After two weeks of use compared it with Hero (tested one week). The dust accumulation on the Hero screen was a deal breaker for me. The screen in sharper than the Hero but I would expect better battery life given the AMOLED screen, although battery life on the Hero was just as bad. Glad to have the keyboard because my flat-tip fingers were just bad for vertical virtual keyboard, horizontal was a bit better but takes getting used to it. Reception issues inside home was resolved by Retentions Dept at Sprint providing me a free Airave with no monthly fee, at home I use Wi-Fi. Call quality is very good, loud and clear, speakerphone much better than Hero. Picture quality is good but the shutter button is extremely slow, image stabilization feature would be nice. Although Hero has 5MP camera the Moment's pics looked better. User interface in Hero is much nicer but I have learned to customize Moment's screens and I came to conclusion that I can have everything I really use in 3 screens. Most of these new smartphones do very poorly in terms of battery life and both HTC Hero and Samsung Moment add to this list. The Moment has some glitches in power management that are a bit annoying and here are examples. After reading reviews I went through 3-4 cycles of fully charging/discharging phone and not much difference was noticed because battery indicator is crazy estimating battery life. After a few hours of normal use (4-5 hrs) the battery meter suddenly drops to indicate 15% and screen in dimmed. It remains at 15% for the next 3-4 hrs before going into red indicating less than 15%. At this point you can't use certain energy hungry devices such as camera/camcorder. In another instance I was charging phone through USB cable and when I took it off it kept indicating that it was charging. Problem was that phone was not managing energy use at this point and towards the end of the day it just indicated battery low, phone shutdown and I was left without communication at that point. Hopefully these glitches will be resolved in the next software update (Please!!!). So why in the world would I keep this phone? Well honestly Sprint has been very supportive (unbelievable right?), have addressed all my main concerns of home reception (out of home phone works great), Sprint TV keeps kids (and adults) entertained, Sprint Navigation is excellent, watched NFL network game last Thu (an otherwise $10 add-on to my cable bill) and the Android platform is awesome, so I only had to choose between Hero and Moment. Although I use phone with one hand, I found the keyboard easier to use than virtual one, although the Hero virtual keyboard was a bit better than the Moment's. The Moment is faster than the Hero (much less lag), the AMOLED screen is far better than the Hero LCD, especially viewing angle (when both kids want to see Spongebob on Sprint TV...impossible in the Hero). But the choice was clear when I confirmed the fact that the Hero does tend to accumulate dust on the corners INSIDE the screen...Hero needs very special care to prevent this. I got used to the bulkier phone type (stepping up from a Centro) although I still try to reach for a stylus at times (hardest habit to break). Just wish these phones would either allow install of apps into SD card or have larger memory space to install these. Overall I like the Moment on Sprint's network
6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Poor For Business Users
by mrumz28 on November 12, 2009
Pros: Awesome display
Touch screen and slide out keyboard
Android user interface is fun
Excellent rendering of websites
Quality media player
Integrates with google users well
Seems like a good device for a CASUAL user
Optical mouse works wellCons: So many....
Summary: CONS
- Poor phone for business users (for all the reasons below)
- For my taste, the touch screen does not respond fast enough. I'm used to having a ...Summary: CONS
- Poor phone for business users (for all the reasons below)
- For my taste, the touch screen does not respond fast enough. I'm used to having a blackberry and flying around from one thing to the next.
- I'm new to touch screens and was worried I would have this exact problem, and it's true. I have trouble clicking on the smaller items or ones close to each other. Too many times over just the last few days I tried to click on one thing only to be sent to the adjacent link. Very annoying. Could I get used to / better at this? ...maybe
- The touch screen is supposed to automatically detect your face when your on a phone call but this is pretty spotty.
I had an important business call come in and when I put the phone to my ear it automatically called someone in my favorites list. When I realized, hung up and got back to my original call, it then opened up a game application which started playing music during my call. Needless to say, I was not amused.
- It almost forces you to use gmail because:
1. There is no contact sync for Outlook users. In fact, the only way to get your contacts on this phone is to either buy third party sync software - why should I spend extra money on something every other smartphone does for free --- OR you can export a .cvs file and import into a gmail account. But then the phone only sync to the gmail account, it'll never sync to the Outlook or Yahoo or where ever your contacts are stored. Plus this work around does not get your Outlook notes or tasks onto your phone.
2. Ironically google does have a free application you can download to sync to your outlook calendar but again it requires a gmail account. Though I did this and it works (really 3 way sync - phone, gmail, outlook).
3. The Samsung Moment only pushes emails for gmail accounts. [/B] Again, it seems google really wants to force everyone who gets an android phone to switch everything they do over to google. Not cool.
4. For POP / IMAP email accounts, the fastest it checks your email is every 5 minutes.
5. For POP users (read Yahoo), when on a computer the emails you send from your phone you won't be able to see in your computer/online sent mail folder. *Not good*.
6. To try and work around this problem, you can setup your gmail account to check (fetch) your other pop / imap email account. Then it'll push those emails to your phone.
***But the catch here is that it'll only fetch emails for the other address when it feels like it! - Technically google has it setup to fetch emails more frequently if you receive frequent emails and less frequently if you receive occasional emails. Makes sense for the casual user, but for work purposes I can't have google deciding when it wants me to get my emails. I'm on the road a lot and I rely on getting information asap. This sucks!
7. Yahoo email users (like me) can only get emails on their phone if you have a Yahoo Plus account ($19.99/yr). That sucks. That's more of a yahoo problem then an Android one, but still. At least with the blackberry there is a Y!Mail application you can download to get yahoo mail for free with similar functionality as you do on a computer. ...Maybe Yahoo will do the same for Android, but I don't know... Google & Yahoo are competitors.
8. The battery dies fast when using email & the internet with the frequency I do. My blackberry curve never died this quickly. I'm charging this thing twice a day.
So far that's my assessment. I am very seriously considering returning this phone and getting a Blackberry Tour. I'm going to sleep on it.6 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A real review
by cancerouswun on March 8, 2010
Pros: Amazing display, spacious keyboard, fast processor, fast charging time
Cons: Learning Curve, Battery (See Below), Somewhat big
Summary: I have read many reviews on the Moment and I agree with some and disagree with most. The most common problem is that people are complaining about the battery life. ...
Summary: I have read many reviews on the Moment and I agree with some and disagree with most. The most common problem is that people are complaining about the battery life. Yes, if you leave programs running in the background it will eat your battery with ease. Solution, Do your research on the OS. Android is a multitasking euphoria, it has everything Iphone users want without having to exit programs to check your email. I have downloaded "Automatic Task Killer", it allows you to choose which programs run in the background and which stay open. IMPO there is no reason to run any app that you use frequently in the background. The processing power of this phone allows for quick opening of programs and save time and battery by having them closed when the screen is powered off. Also the display plays a big part. If you are having your screen at 100% all day that is no good. Being an AMOLED it runs much more efficient on a lower brightness and with the same brilliant results. I went from 7am - 11pm on a single charge with moderate to heavy use. (ie Texting, facebook, random internet surfing) Not to mention that my office is in a network hell and would often go from EVDO - 1x back and forth. Needless to say at the end of the day i was at 20% but that is good considering the time I had it away from the charger.
The only other thing i would say about the battery and how to make it work for you is not to have you gmail or twitter updated every 5 mins. No one gets that many personal emails that often nor tweets (because they are so crucial to social living) that you need to know when someone tweets about how bad their day is or what kinda shoes to buy.
The keyboard took some getting use to because of the "funky" layout. I can from a Blackberry Bold 9000 and it is a texting dream. So needless to say it has been a transition. But still it the key have just enough play and tactile feedback that it makes up for the layout.
Obviously with a quirty keyboard comes added weight and bulk, which is not a big deal seeing that my Bold is wider than my moment.
Call quality is very good and i think the speaker phone performs quite well.
The only thing that I would change or omit would be the optical mouse. It works well in some applications but to me needs to be more sensitive in its response. Also if vibrating feedback were used it would make for more precise navigation.
One thing i would suggest for heavy users (games, apps,FB) would be a car charger. The 1440maH battery charges very quickly, but if your seeing bad performance or low battery because of use it would be a good investment.4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Review was more for techies who always nitpick...
by sportsfan206 on November 1, 2009
Pros: Everything, when you are coming from the world of non-smartphone use or windows mobile.
***Screen is absolutly beautifulCons: Come with Android 1.5 (If 2.0 is available as upgrade though, who cares?)
Summary: I don't know what they are talking about in this review, but the sound quality and volume on my device is absolutly booming. Other reviews on other sites same ...
Summary: I don't know what they are talking about in this review, but the sound quality and volume on my device is absolutly booming. Other reviews on other sites same the same, so I suspect that somehow CNet got their hands on a dud volume wise. I put Android 1.5 as a negative, only because it is a bit older, but if you aren't used to smartphone or coming from WM like me, you will love it. Also, it most likely is getting a 2.0 upgrade anyway. As for the stock build, I like this. There are 10,000 apps and growing in the store, and many options to download customized home screens. Why does it have to be a knock on a device that wasn't customized, when the operating system was specifically built for 3rd party development? Another thing is lag or sluggishness of the screen. I have not experienced this at all, but to be fair they did state that Android Virgins wouldn't notice this.
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great phone worth the wait
by deltadeuce on October 31, 2009
Pros: Fast internet connection, crisp screen, access to ton of apps,
Cons: Low call and voicemail volume
Summary: I received my Moment a day before it's official release and I must say it is a great phone. I have handled the phone for approx 9 hours now ...
Summary: I received my Moment a day before it's official release and I must say it is a great phone. I have handled the phone for approx 9 hours now and I am getting used to it. First, I must state that this phone has a blazing internet connection and download speed. The browser supports video and full pages instead of, the mobile view. I have downloaded as many as 5 android apps at one time w/ no disruption in connection or download speed. The full keyboard is easier to use instead of the on screen keyboard. I would recommend downloading handcent in order to take full advantage of texting capabilities. The battery life is pretty good considering the applications I accessed. For example, on a full charge I was able to surf the web, download apps and talk on the phone for 9 hours before the battery got exteremely low. I don't like the fact that the bluetooth feature has a countdown of 2 mins before the device is not visible anymore. As a result, you have to restart the timer in order to make the phone visible again. The phone has visual voicemail which is a plus. The phone comes loaded with its fair share of android apps such as, facebook. However, there are plenty of free ones available.
I wish you could customize each screen with a different background however, you are able to customize the background with one picture. I also wish the quick button for texting was available on the home screen. I'm suite sure there is a way to do so but like I said I have the phone for 9 hours I will report again after a day or two with updated information.4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Samsung
- Part number: SPHM900ZKA
- Bottom Line: With its full keyboard and bright display, the Samsung Moment successfully rounds out Sprint's Android offerings.
General
- Product Type Smartphone
- Width 2.3 in
- Depth 0.6 in
- Height 4.6 in
- Weight 0.4 lbs
Cellular
- Technology CDMA2000 1X
- Service Provider Sprint Nextel
- Operating System Android 1.5
Security Features
- SIM Card Lock no
- Restrict Access to Phone Book no
Navigation System
- GPS Navigation Yes
Display
- Diagonal Size 3.2 in
Battery
- Technology Lithium ion
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Samsung products on Shopper.com
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- Manufacturer:Samsung
- Address:
105 Challenger Road, Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660 - Phone: 1-800-726-7864
- Fax: 1-973-601-6001
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